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Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy 15. Leadership Derailment SLP(E) Course Slide 2 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Derailment Slide 3 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Agenda Complexity. Ambiguity. Derailment research. Slide 4 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity & Ambiguity As you rise in leadership level the nature of the demand changes. Two aspects increase: Complexity. Ambiguity. Paradox of leadership: Leader shows way, but may not be sure of the route. Slide 5 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. Laurence J. Peter Slide 6 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Uncertainty Near certainty & agreement = management + navigation. Little certainty & agreement = leadership + exploring. Slide 7 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Arc of Uncertainty UncertainCertain? Tactical Operational Strategic In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain. Pliny the Elder | 23 AD - 79 AD Slide 8 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity (Chaos) Theory The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. [] So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. [] Stewart | 1989 | Does God Play Dice? The New Mathematics of Chaos. Complexity theory: the behavour over time of certain kinds of complex systems. Slide 9 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity Theory | Dynamic Systems Zone 1 Zone 2 Zone 3 Zone 1 Stable Zone When disturbed returns to original state. Zone 2 Zone of Instability When disturbed moves away from original state. Zone 3 - A Phase Transition or the Edge of Chaos Unpredictable behaviour within a bounded predictability. Slide 10 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity Theory & Leadership Analysis loses its primacy. Contingency (cause & effect) loses its meaning. Long-term planning becomes impossible Visions become illusions Consensus & strong cultures become dangerous. Statistical relationships become dubious. Stacey | 1993 | Strategic Management & Organisational Dynamics. Slide 11 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity Theory & Leadership Organisations not only adapt to environment, but help to create them. Organisational success can come from contradiction as well as consistency. That success may stem from being part of a self-reinforcing cycle, rather than from an explicit vision. That revolutionary as well as incremental changes may lie on the route to organisational success. Rosenhead & Mingers | 2001 | Rational Analysis For a Problematic World Revisited Slide 12 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Ambiguity Rising seniority increases ambiguity: many different conclusions & solutions may be drawn from the facts presented. Increasing uncertainty | longer time horizons | competing demands and stakeholders: what happens to your decision making? Slide 13 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Complexity UncertaintyAmbiguity Risk Organisational risk appetite: Californian vs Stalinist. Organisational behaviour toward risk: - Attitude toward failure. - Performance assessment. Impact on decision-making & innovation. Slide 14 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Derailment Why is it that many (apparently very able) individuals derail? Slide 15 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy The Peter Principle In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence Peter & Hull | 1969 | The Peter Principle Solutions: Up and Out. Demonstrate skills to succeed at next level. Parallel career paths for technical staff. Slide 16 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy Derailment 1. An insensitive, abrasive, or bullying style. 2. Aloofness or arrogance. 3. Betrayal of personal trust. 4. Self-centred ambition. 5. Failure to constructively face an obvious problem. 6. Micro-management. 7. Inability to select good subordinates. 8. Inability to take a long-term perspective. 9. Inability to adapt to a boss with a different style. 10.Overdependence on a mentor. McCall, Lombardo | 1983 | Off the track: Why and how successful executives get derailed Slide 17 Centre for Defence Leadership & Management | College of Management & Technology | UK Defence Academy 14. Leadership & Personality SLP(E) Course